For the President to get comprehensive reform through Congress, he’ll need help from McCain and other Republicans.  Some Democrats are sure to vote no.   This fundraiser where McCain was raising money based on his immigration reform stance is good news.  As reported by the Hill: http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/12/mccain-uses-immigration-to-raise-money/

What to make of Obama’s announcement that he is ready to push immigration reform?  I admit I am surprised.  I guess I doubted the President’s willingness to take on this controversial subject in the midst of a recession.  I was wrong.  Perhaps it is the economic crisis itself that opens the door to bold initiaties like healh care and immigration reform.  U.S. citizens are so nervous about their jobs, their savings, their retirement that they may be willing to follow the President whereever he leads them.   If the economy picks up, Obama will get the credit and that may give him chips he can play on the immigration issue. 

So, I admit it.  I was wrong.  My new prediction, immigration reform with a path to citizenship in 2010 or early 2010.

You may have read about proposals in the “stimulus” legislation that would limit the ability of companies that get federal bailout aid from hiring H-1B temporary professional workers.  The Economic Times provides a good summary.  If this bars remain in the final bill, that’s a very bad sign for immigration reform.  H-1B workers add no more than 85,000 workers a year to the workforce.  That’s not enough to impact the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers.  Plus, it is such a hassle these days to get H-1B workers, that employers generally go through the process only when they really need the worker. 

This article from USA Today about H-1B workers doesn’t add much to the debate, but gives a sense of where the country is at when discussing immigration reform. Read it carefully and you can see how bogus the attack on the H-1B program is. First of all, the program only allows 85,000 new workers in private industry per year - hardly enough to impact the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers. Plus, much of the work done by H-1B workers could just as well be done abroad. So, limiting the H-11B program will just push the work overseas where the workers will pay taxes and buy cars in their home countries rather than in the United States. Think about that next time you hear about an attack on the H-1B program.

Meanwhile, in articles like this I see a trend to promote views that tend to undermine a positive view of immigrants.

The Executive Office for Immigratoin Review (EOIR) has publised a useful guide to alternatives for individuals seeking to remain in the United States because they fear persecution at home. You can read the guide at

http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir/press/09/AsylumWithholdingCATProtections.pdf

The EOIR is the division of the Department of Homeland Security that includes the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

We should note that our new President can stop the factory raids that have terrorized immigrant communities the past couple of years.  It would take only a phone call.  My guess is that he will make that call. 

 As I have been writing, major immigration reform legistlation is unlikely, but administrative reforms are in the power of the President to make without having go through Congress.  My guess is that whatever improvements in U.S. immigration policy happen in the next year will result from executive decisions.

Friends: 

I know that many of you are hopeful that the inauguration of Barack Obama will mean a swift move toward immigration reform.  I have made clear in my writings that I am less hopeful.  None of the major articles on Obama’s first year priorities mention immigration reform except those in listserves and bulletins from those supporting legalization.  In my view, that’s wishful thinking, but that major immigration reform is a long way off.

Still, I think an Obama adminsitration can and will do some things administratively to make life easier for immigrants.  My guess is that he will order his attorney general to continue to move against “criminal aliens” but to back off on factory raids.  These raids do little more than terrorize immigrant communities.  Obama can make this change without Congress or anyone else getting in the way.  Also, we may see some general easing of employer sanctions enforcement.

Stay tuned.

Allan

I sometimes get asked which colleges and universities have the necessary accreditation to authorize students to get international student status.

Well, here’s a list: http://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/ApprovedSchools.pdf

Most institutions of higher education ARE accredited, so choosing a school based on immigration accreditation seems silly to me. You’ll find most schools you’ll want to attend will have immigration accreditation.

It’s time for me to start blogging again.  I resolve to blog at least once a week to alert you to news and views on immigration law and policy.  I’m motivated by the bad information already moving through the web on immigration reform.  I don’t see broad reform coming in the first years of the new administration.  Some who disagree I suspect have an interest in folks coming back to their sites for more info on a law that won’t come to be for years.  I’ll try to keep them honest.

 Meanwhile, please note that I do not answer legal questions on my blog.  If you have a legal question about your case, go to my website, www.allanwernick.com and send me an email as instructed there.

USCIS Memo on K-2 Adjustment of Status

Readers:

I’m back to blogging again.  I want to get in shape for the busy season next year when immigration reform gets back into the News. 

Today I am posting an interesting memo from a USCIS official regarding how an over-18 child of a fiance of a U.S. citizen can get permanent residence.  See my Daily News column on October 28 for more info.